Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers

n compiling this volume of Eastern Tales, the Editor has been careful to select only those best suited to youthful readers. They have been gathered from both ancient and modern, French, Italian, and English sources, and therefore offer great variety of style and subject. In the stories taken from the Tales of the Genii, an omission of a few words has been made, to fit them for their place in this volume. CONTENTS PAGE JALALADDEEN OF BAGDAD 1 THE STORY OF HASCHEM 40 THE PANTOFLES 73 STORY OF THE PRINCE AND THE LIONS 78 THE CITY OF THE DEMONS 95 JUSSUF, THE MERCHANT OF BALSORA 104 THE SEVEN SLEEPERS 169 THE ENCHANTERS; OR, MISNAR, THE SULTAN OF INDIA 200 SADIK BEG 306 HALECHALBE AND THE UNKNOWN LADY 309 THE FOUR TALISMANS 341 THE STORY OF BOHETZAD; OR, THE LOST CHILD 366 URAD; OR, THE FAIR WANDERER 499 ALISCHAR AND SMARAGDINE 524 EASTERN TALES. Jalaladdeen of Bagdad. nce upon a time there lived in the city of Bagdad a young man called Jalaladdeen. It was not his native place; but, in his early days, his father had taken up his abode there. He was, however, little acquainted with the town, in which he had grown up a sturdy youth; for his father inhabited a small house in one of the suburbs, and lived a very retired and frugal life. They managed their household affairs, and cultivated their small garden, without the aid of any domestics. One day the father, feeling his end approaching, called for his son once more to his bed-side before his death, and said to him, "Jalaladdeen, my dearest son, thou seest that I have arrived at the bourne of my earthly career: now I should joyously quit this life, were it not for the thought that I must leave thee here alone. After my death, thou wilt find that thou are not so poor as thou mayest have conceived, and that too with good reason, from our hitherto contracted habits of life. Nevertheless, guard against the impression that thou art in possession of inexhaustible riches. Reflect that a year has three hundred and sixty-five days, and that the smallest expenditure, when it occurs daily, will in the end amount to no inconsiderable sum. Pay careful heed, therefore, to these my instructions, and be contented with the necessaries of life. Provide that which is indispensable to thy subsistence;…